105 million viewers watched the Colts and the Saints go at it in Super Bowl 44.

116 million viewed the Yanks and Phillies during their 6 game battles in the World Series in 09.

About 120 million viewed the 7 games the Celts and Lakers played in 2010, with over 18 million viewing game 7.

700 million viewed the World Cup Final live worldwide in 2006.  700, and…Get this…

The 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany had a total cumulative television audience of 26.29 billion (24.2 billion in-home and 2.1 billion out-of-home viewers).

That’s a B as in Billion.

So when I’m asked why I’m a soccer guy, I honestly don’t really know why.  Just always have been.  Always will be.  My dad played basketball and swam in college and my mom can cook.  I don’t think they had competitive eating when my moms was a youngin’, you just always finished your plate.  I just had a knack for soccer.  I played other sports and excelled in them as well it was the game of soccer that had a spell on me.  So this is my time of year…well my time every 4 years.

The Beautiful Game.  Futbol. Football. Soccer.  Whatever you call it, it’s the sport of the world proven by the outrageous global stats of viewing and playing and now its time for it to shine during the World Cup.

An estimated 3.5 billion have some interest in football, either playing or watching it.

Again, that’s a B as in Billion.

Now in the United States that’s hard to grasp since you hear about soccer being popular but no one really believes it or sees it.  How many times have we heard that soccer is the fastest growing sport in the US?  But do we see it happening?  Not really.  It’s still left in the dust to football, baseball and basketball.  But all you have to do in the next few weeks is turn on the TV and you’ll see that it’s pretty popular.  Bigger than Yao Ming in China.  Bigger than LeBron in Akron.  And oh yes…bigger than Jordan in Chicago.

I have three reasons why football, yes the real football, is not popular in the US.  Now I have nothing against people thinking the way they want, just get your facts straight before you open your pie hole.

6'7" Jan Koller. If you couldn't figure it out, he's on the right.

1. Soccer is soft and not physical.
I’ve heard this my whole life and career from non-soccer players.  In part it’s true.  I was 5’9″, 150 in my playing days.  I’m pretty sure any NFL player would destroy me.  In THEIR sport.  We’re used to American football.  Barbarians on the gridiron and big, large men that can kill you with a single blow.  I’m not doubting their ability to do so, but comparing me and the beautiful game to these freakishly large men is a little below the belt.  Soccer is not made for short bursts of power every 3-4 seconds.  It’s not built for more weight and power the better.  Don’t get me wrong some soccer players are big men in their own right.  Sol Campbell, 6-3, 200. Oguchi Onyewu, 6-4, 215.  Jan Koller, 6-7, 225.  Now that’s not the same as Ray Lewis, 6-1, 250 or mighty mite Shaun Rodgers at 6-4, 350 but it’s a different goal of the sport.  A different training.  Soccer players don’t just do a 40m dash, play for 3-4 second bursts, get TV timeouts or get breaks for offense and defense.  They run multiple 30-40 yard dashes during a game while also maintaining 90 plus minutes of endurance while always playing offense and defense at all times.  Try just jogging for 90 minutes with a 10 minute break in between just one time.  Now put that into a game situation where you’re sprinting, tracking players of your same skill level and where one lapse in speed, endurance or mental accuracy can cost you a game.

The 6-3, 200, Campbell, a premier striker in his day, had one of his sprints clocked once at 22.50mph.  Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s record setting 100m was clocked at a top speed of 24.04mph.  And i’m pretty sure he had to keep running and playing.  Not just one sprint and you get a break for even 2 minutes.  Little English striker Michael Owen once ran a sub 10sec 100m but also run a 5k in under 16 minutes.  Speed. Endurance. Skill.

I think. I broke. My face.

Its not just the endurance and speed though, its physical.  It’s not the full on baby calf like tackling we’re used to in American football but you have physical play in soccer.  Tackling, grabbing, pushing, shoving and shoulder to shoulder on the ball play.  It’s tears apart your core and lower body since its all done with your feet but if you’re not strong up top you’ll get pushed right off the ball.  Keep the ball in possession while keeping balanced and moving while you’re pushed and kicked by opponents.  If you go down and the whistle doesn’t blow you keep playing.  You don’t go into a huddle or get subbed out.  You keep going.

I also think the growing problem with diving gives soccer a rep that it is soft.  Players go down holding their leg as if it was just broken and their up running on it after 20 seconds.  A player gets hit in the leg with a cleat and he holds his face while having a seizure on the ground.  These players are showing disrespect to the game just like the same actors in American football and basketball.  I’ve seen Kobe get hit and it looks like he’s dying from the foul or Derek Fisher flop on a charge.  I’ve seen Peyton Manning go down on his own for a sack so he wouldn’t get hit.  It’s a problem in every sport just on different levels, except for you Aussie Rules Football guys.  You’re real men *cough*and psychos*cough*.

See? Awkward.

2. Feet.
We’re not born doing things with our feet unless we’re Christy Brown.  We learn to crawl on our hands before we walk on our feet.  We play with rattles and suck on our hands as infants.  We throw things before we kick things.  It’s awkward for us to do.  Soccer is probably the only sport where 99% of play is done by your feet.  Basketball, baseball and football are all played 99% of the time with our hands.  Tennis (big and small) and hockey are an extension of our hands. Horseshoes, disc golf (my new guilty pleasure), bowling, darts, checkers, chess, rowing, gymnastics, curling and boxing. Hands, hands, hands…well you get the point.

It’s hard for those brought up in America, where soccer isn’t very big, to get used to doing something that is the exact opposite of what Dad may have taught us.  Throw and catch the ball.  Don’t kick it because kickers aren’t football players.  That’s for you Mark Schlereth.

3. We’re America. We’re always the best.
We have this mindset in America that we’re the best.  The most powerful nation.  The richest.  The best.  Now in some ways that may be true and in other ways it’s a bit ego driven.  In the MLB, NFL and NBA they call their champions the “World Champions”.  Isn’t that a little ego driven?  Are they really the world champs or just the champs of the US made league?

Did the USA win the World Baseball Classic last year?   Nope. Or in 2006? No.

Do we win the Ryder Cup every time?   Nada.  Actually since it went to the Europe vs. US format in ’79, Europe has one more title than we.

Did we win the gold in the 2004 Olympics or the 2006 World Championship of basketball?  Not close and the 2008 Gold medal basketball game wasn’t a cakewalk either considering Spain had only 4 NBA players on their roster and it was a 4 point game with 2 minutes left.

I actually reread articles about the 2008 Olympic Gold medal win by the US men’s basketball team and many writers stated that, “Order was restored in international basketball.”  Huh? Order?

Right in front of global power Serbia

The simple fact is the US soccer team is not on par with the rest of the world and honestly, that pisses us off.  We don’t like that.  We don’t like being second best.  We have to win.  I love the Olympics but the US has to win the most medals in all Olympic Games.  We love seeing the medal count of the US having more total medals even though in 2008 China had 15 more golds than we did.  All we saw was total medals.  We have to be the best at everything.  Well we’re not in soccer.  We’re 14^th in the world according to FIFA rankings.  Not 2^nd.  Not 4^th.  Not even top 10.

So when you’re watching the World Cup in all its glory for the next couple weeks don’t nitpick the diving or acting on the field, don’t think its wimpy or soft, don’t think it’s stupid not to use your hands and don’t think we’re the best and get your hopes up that the US will go far.  Soccer IS the world’s game and billions of people from every nation and country are watching just like you.  You have something in common with almost half the people on earth.  That’s pretty amazing when you think about it.

We’re one of the 3 plus billion and we’re all watching the same game.

That’s a B as in Beautiful.

In a move that will make any US soccer fan weep with joy, ESPN has recently, and at the 11th hour, secured the rights to up to two English Premier League fixtures per week.  The two time slots fall at 7:45 AM EST or 10:00 AM EST on Saturdays and all of the Monday 3:00 PM EST fixtures.  With the top league in the world now on a major cable network for all to see, soccer will have its day here in this country. Even if it is quite early on Saturday morning, especially for the West Coast viewership.

But this morning, while watching Chelsea v. Hull City in HD, I couldn’t help but think how great it is that the highest level of soccer will be on display for those who find little joy in the currently mediocre talents of the MLS. The sight of Didier Drogba scoring from a vicious set-piece to draw Chelsea level at 1-1 had me yelling at the top of my lungs before the 9 o’clock hour had even rolled around, leaving my wife truly worrying about my mental state.

For at least the first broadcast ESPN has chosen to us the English commentator feed rather than using its own “talent”.  I truly hope this continues as the nuances and presentation of the game will be genuine for the viewing audience.  Anyone who has watched a US broadcast of soccer can relate to their constant need to lay the ground work, so to speak, for each and every minute of play.  They are keen to explain every little tweak on the ball to both solidify their credibility and tell you how you should be feeling about what you’re watching. Using native English play-by-play is a fantastic tactic and will do well towards raising the viewing audience to its level, rather than dropping the level of commentary to the lowest common denominator.

Before I let this article get ahead of me here, suffice to say this is the start of a great trend from ESPN to bring the world’s game to us and show what top-flight football really and truly is to the negative talking heads of the sports media. Now we can hope for the Worldwide Leader to really go great guns and get a much larger chunk of the Premier League’s television contract beginning with the 2010-2011 season… word on the street is that it is already in the works.

Soccer just became 0.1% more accessible in the US and my wife now knows she’s lost me another 0.1% to it.

The excitement is only heightened in New York when for a few weeks in the summer the streets empty at kickoff, and every bar with a TV in Manhattan is filled to capacity. It really is, “the world’s game.”

So the U.S. is generating support to make their bid for the 2018 event, and I’m really hoping they can pull through. My hopes of going to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup dwindle with every passing day. So 2018 may be my next best chance to see it live. So go sign the petition. And tell friends to do the same.

David Beckham was supposed to be the savior of the MLS. There was supposed to be a flood of international talent that would rush over the league upon his arrival. To his credit there were a few players that defected from more popular leagues. But all that hype and media coverage lasted for a month or so.

But as the newest black eye for the MLS, it looks like Beckham will be heading back over seas. Pretty interesting considering the rhetoric “Becks” spewed when he first made the move to the L.A. Galaxy.

It’s also about being an ambassador for the game here and, hopefully, it is going to encourage other players to come to the States and be part of this because soccer in America can become much bigger.

That’s why I’m here. I want to be part of the growth of the game in the States.

The game doesn’t appear to have grown much. And this won’t help. Potential U.S. soccer fans won’t be quick to get behind a group of players that appear greedy and flighty and play a sport that is still very foreign in many U.S. communities.

But if the MLS is expanding, they’ve got to at least be doing kind of well, right?

I don’t know what the analysts have said or what the coaches and players have attributed the loss and more-so the monumental collapse to. But in my mind it seems pretty clear. It was a failure of strategy. The U.S. played the first 26 minutes nearly perfectly. I honestly don’t know what else they could’ve done better. But then things turned. Team USA went straight from “let’s get up early” mode and right into “oh crap we can’t lose this” mode. They were paralyzed by the fear of giving up a two-goal lead in the championship to Brazil. And when all you’re thinking about is not losing, you’re going to do just that, lose.

The U.S. executed a flawed strategy flawlessly

For the remainder of the first half and the majority of the second half the U.S. was in pure defense mode. They played nine guys back and when they did gain possession they quickly gave it back. Brazil had 24 shots, 11 on goal, and nine in the first half. Team USA had a measly eight shots, four on goal and only four total in the first half. You don’t have to be a math whiz to know those numbers aren’t in your favor. 

So not only did their strategy allow Brazil to play almost 3/4 of the entire game on the U.S. side of the field, and constantly give them scoring opportunities and keep the U.S. on their heels, but it also didn’t give them any opportunities to attack. In any given match, each team has to battle their opponent, occasionally the officials and the clock. And by failing to press forward at any point, the U.S. neglected to retain possession, taking time off the clock, keeping the ball off of their side of the field and taking the pressure off of their defense.

Team USA played the soccer equivalent of the prevent defense in American football. And any football fan knows, the only thing the prevent defense does, is prevent you from winning. Hopefully the coaching staff has learned their lesson and won’t coach so tentatively the next time they have an early lead.

Was it a case of Spain coming out flat and underestimating the Americans?  Was it the Americans finally playing a flowing game of soccer that we’ve all been looking for since their pre-2006 World Cup days?  Perhaps a bit of both.  Regardless, the end result stands.  In the end it was done with fantastic pressure in the attacking third, containment of a potent Spain attack, intelligent passing and a bit of luck – Spain had more than their share of point blank chances on the US goal.

I’ll eat my words and be more than happy to write a vitriolic account of their upcoming matches if these are the results they produce.  I’m more than happy to be publicly wrong if that is the outcome.  Next up, the Confederation Cup Final against either Brazil or South Africa.  Since I was expecting a Spain/Brazil final, perhaps the US has to set their eyes on a dark horse South African side instead.  Unlikely, but today proves crazy things can happen, especially if they’re the host country and playing for pride and in front of their people.

Again, an incredibly minor tournament in the grand scheme of things, but perhaps the perfect shot in the arm the US needed as they embark on the final half of their World Cup Qualifying matches.  Let’s hope the continue to make me look like an ass and prove me wrong.

Dear US, prepare to be dismantled. Love, David Villa.

The United States Men’s National Soccer Team find themselves in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup in South Africa.  However, when they meet Spain on Wednesday in Bloemfontein (a completely real city, despite its seemingly fictitious name) they will not subsequently find themselves advancing to the finals.  Anything can happen in sports, but the fact that the US are in the semi-finals is a bit of a false indicator to the lay soccer fan.  In all honesty, they made it here by mistake.

The Confederations Cup is essentially a dry-run tournament for the country hosting the next World Cup.  With the World Cup a year a way now, it is a great time to test the infrastructure, logistics and crowd control that will make the worlds largest sporting event one equally large cluster-f***.  Why not have a mini-tourney to rile things up?

The US has been righteously sucking wind in its World Cup qualifying rounds and although it will make the tournament, the team has had less than dominating performances against teams supposedly fair inferior in their CONCACAF region.  Add to that the first two games of this Confederations Cup where they were tested by two of the best in the world in Italy and Brazil and failed miserably, losing 3-1 and 3-0 respectively.  While living life at the bottom of their group going into their final game the idea was to have a solid showing against Egypt to save a little face and end on a high note.  A decisive 3-0 victory there gave the US a life-line as they garnered enough goals to place second in their group on a goal differential technicality.  Welcome to the next round Bob Bradley and crew!

Of equal but opposite intrigue is that of a Spain side who has lost zero games in their last 35.  That is exactly zero games lost since November 2006.  They are the reigning UEFA Euro 2008 winners, and sport one of the more ridiculously star-laden rosters in the world.  What is most remarkable is the fluidity with which Spain play, and that will be quite the contrast to what we see out of our Yanks.

When it is boiled down, this tournament doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.  However, it is a great indicator as to when it is alright to make a mountain of a problem out of a molehill of a tournament. The United States needs to get better.  They need to get better at player development, playing the world’s game, but more importantly finding their own game – one that involves a cohesive footy-unit on the pitch.  Tomorrow’s match will be a showcase of how strong Spanish football has been and will be and consequently a stark realization as to the gap that still needs crossing to get the US onto the same competitive playing field.   Please, Mr. Bradley, have your troops surprise me.  I won’t be upset if you don’t, though, I already know the reality. I just hope it gets better before the world stage gets bigger next year.

And it worked! Torino goalie Matteo Sereni couldn’t see the kick by Giuseppe Mascara, who scored during Catania’s 3-2 victory. They went balls out (literally) for the win.